1. Field of the Invention
Oil, gas, or water wells commonly employ the use of some form of control lines to communicate with or to provide power to downhole equipment. Examples of control lines used in a downhole environment include electrical lines, hydraulic lines, and fiber optic lines. For example, downhole sensors may communicate measurements to surface equipment over electrical cables or fiber optic lines. Also, hydraulic power can be provided to control downhole components, such as to operate valves or set downhole packers, using hydraulic lines or other lines for communicating fluid pressure. If unprotected, control lines may be easily damaged during deployment of tool strings into the well, or by other movement or operation of downhole components.
Control lines, such as electrical cables, are especially susceptible to damage near the joints between tubing or pipe sections because of the presence of extra components (such as a coupling mechanism) used for attaching the joints. Cable protectors are usually provided at such pipe or tubing couplings to provide protection for electrical cables.
2. Description of Related Art
A cable protector for protecting electrical cables typically includes a body section, in which the electrical cables are accommodated, with the body section coupled to a clamp piece to enable fastening of the cable protector to a tubing or pipe section. However, a specifically manufactured conventional cable protector is rather limited in the types of cable and tubing couplings that it can be used with. As the requirements of a well operation change, tubing or pipe sizes may also need to change. When this occurs, existing cable protectors may not be suitable for use with the different tubings or pipes. As a result, in anticipation of such changes, a well operator may have to keep various different types of cable protectors on hand. This increases the number of components that must be kept by the well operator, which may increase the cost of well operation.
Also, economically efficient manufacturing techniques have generally not been available to form cable protectors and as a result, increased operating costs are experienced by well operators.